BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 02:51 PM

Venezuela annuls election of anti-Chavez mayor

Washington post 2 24, 2010

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's highest court on Wednesday annulled the election of an opposition mayor, replacing him with a supporter of President Hugo Chavez until a new vote is held.

The Supreme Court threw out the 2008 election of Jorge Barboza, mayor of the Sucre municipality in western Zulia state, on grounds that he failed to pay $292 in local taxes.

The justices ruled Barboza was ineligible to continue as mayor because he lacked "the suitability (required) for the management of a mayoral post."

In brief comments on the local Globovision television channel, Barboza called the ruling a coup against a democratically elected official and denied any wrongdoing.

His brother, Omar Barboza, said the arguments behind the ruling "constitute proof that the justice system is being used to politically persecute opponents" of Chavez's socialist government.

Barboza said the owner of a house rented by the mayor apparently failed to pay the $292 in taxes. He called the court's ruling ridiculous, saying his brother should not be held responsible for the home owner's lack of responsibility.

The Supreme Court appointed Humberto Franka Salas, a member of Chavez's ruling party, as interim mayor. Franka Salas, who was runner-up in the 2008 mayoral vote, will hold the post until a new election.

Chavez foes have long accused the president of using judges and prosecutors to bring trumped up criminal charges against government opponents. International rights groups have criticized the lack of independence of Venezuela's judiciary, noting that Chavez appears to hold sway over the system.

Chavez rejects the allegations, saying he has never pressured judges or prosecutors to target his adversaries.

¡Viva La Revoluctón!

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 12:54 AM

France 24

By Lorena Galliot 25 February 2010 -

Eight Cuban medics sue Caracas and Havana for 'forced labour'
Seven Cuban doctors and a nurse have accused their government of engaging in a modern form of slavery with Venezuela after bartering their services for cheap Venezuelan oil.

Seven Cuban doctors and a male nurse who claim they were made to work against their will in inhuman and degrading conditions in Venezuela have filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Miami, where they have been granted asylum.

The lawsuit seeks at least 60 million dollars in compensation for each plaintiff, naming Cuba, Venezuela and Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) as defendants.

In 2000, Cuban President Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez concluded an oil for manpower deal, known as the Convenio Integral de Cooperacion", under which the communist island supplied Caracas with trained professionals and equipment in exchange for cheap subsidized Venezuelan oil. The doctors have described the deal as a modern form of slavery and say they fled to Miami to escape servitude for debt .

'A modern form of slavery'

The eight medical workers, two women and six men, were enrolled in a Venezuelan government mission called Barrio Adentro , in which doctors are posted in poor neighborhoods to provide care to Venezuelans free of cost. Cuban doctors are often sent to remote or dangerous parts of the country, like the border area with Colombia, home to drug traffickers and FARC rebels.

The doctors told reporters at a press conference in a Miami suburb on Tuesday that they were forced to enrol in the programme with Venezuela due to dire economic circumstances and political pressure at home.

According to several US and Venezuelan media sources, the plaintiffs described being held captive in crowded lodgings or with families affiliated with the Venezuelan regime, and forced to work seven days a week. We were under strict surveillance at all times. We weren’t allowed to go out when we wanted to or interact with Venezuelans other than our guardians, plaintiff Frank Vargas, a 33-year-old general practitioner from Havana, told reporters. His colleague Maria del Carmen Milanés, 34, added that interacting with known regime opponents was especially forbidden.

Five months in hiding

Had they protested, the doctors explained, they would have been forced to return to Cuba where they would have paid for their insubordination. They said they went into hiding for over five months before they were able to travel to the United States in January, sneaking out less than once a week to find food and plan their escape.

The eight plaintiffs are represented by Miami lawyer Leonardo Canton, who has indicated to reporters that he is ready to represent any other Cuban doctor in the same situation who wishes to join the lawsuit. Canton believes there is a 70% to 80% chance that the suit will be successful, adding that if this is the case, PDVSA assets in the United States could be frozen by court order.

In 2008, a Miami judge awarded 80 million dollars to three Cubans who claimed they were forced into slave labour at a shipyard on the island of Curacao. However, so far none of it has been collected.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 12:47 AM

Cuba's Doctor Abuse

Health Care: Remember Cuba's vaunted medical missionaries, those who treated the poor abroad for nothing, supposedly out of selfless motives? A lawsuit shows they were nothing but a communist slave racket.

It ought to bear a few lessons for our own country as the role of doctors in the health care debate drags on.

Back in 1963, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro launched a much-praised initiative to share Cuba's medical doctors with the poor around the world. The idea, of course, was to appear to be acting on higher motives than the profit-driven doctors in free societies. It was small scale and propaganda-oriented.

But in 2003, Castro went big, and shipped 20,000 doctors and nurses to Venezuela's jungles and slums to treat the poor, doing the work "selfish" private-sector doctors wouldn't. Hugo Chavez touted this line and the mainstream media followed.

Now the ugly facts are getting out about what that really meant: indentured servitude to pay off the debts of a bankrupt regime.

This week, seven escaped doctors and a nurse filed a 139-page complaint in Miami under the RICO and Alien Tort acts describing just how Cuba's oil-for-doctors deal came to mean slavery.

The Cuban medics were forced to work seven days a week, under 60-patient daily quotas, in crime-riddled places with no freedom of movement. Cuban military guards known as "Committees of Health" acted as slave catchers to ensure they didn't flee.

Doctors earned about $180 a month, a salary so low many had to beg for food and water from Venezuelans until they could escape.

What they endured wasn't just bad conditions common inside Cuba. The doctors were instruments of a money-making racket to benefit the very Castro regime that has ruined Cuba's economy.

"They were told 'your work is more important to Cuba than even its sugar industry,'" their attorney, Leonardo Canton, told IBD.

That's because their labor was tied to an exchange: Castro took 100,000 barrels of oil each day from Venezuela's state oil company in exchange for uncompensated Cuban labor.

Most of the oil was then sold for hard currency, bringing in cash. Cuba also charged Venezuela $30 per patient visit, meaning a $1,000 daily haul per doctor. But the doctors never saw any of it.

In a situation like this, it's pretty obvious that when the state gets involved in medical care telling doctors whom they can serve, what they can charge and what they can treat it doesn't take long for slavery to result. The Cuban government has told other doctors, such as surgeon Hilda Molina, that her brain "is the property of the state" as reason to control her travel.

That ought to be lesson to those who seek to reform medical care in the U.S. on the backs of doctors. Free medical care is never free.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:33 AM

Venezuelan police break up anti-Chavez protest

Washington Post Feb. 4, 2010.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Police used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter hundreds of students protesting against the government Thursday, while President Hugo Chavez's supporters celebrated the 18th anniversary of his failed coup as an army officer.

Caracas Police Chief Carlos Meza said authorities broke up the protest because university students had not been granted permission to march. He said the denial was aimed at preventing clashes with thousands of "Chavistas" marching across the capital to mark the botched 1992 military rebellion that Chavez led as a lieutenant colonel.

"They don't have permission to march," Meza said.

Student leaders countered that they have the right to stage peaceful protests, and they said authorities loyal to Chavez frequently deny them permission to demonstrate. Before the protest was dispersed, students chanted: "We're students, not coup plotters!"

"This is one more demonstration of the government's abuse of power," student leader Roderick Navarro said.

Students started leading protests last week after the government pressured cable and satellite TV providers to drop an opposition channel. Students have organized demonstrations in cities across the country, accusing Chavez of forcing Radio Caracas Television International off the airwaves as a means of silencing his critics.

Chavez challenged the students to continue staging demonstrations, saying they won't weaken his socialist government. But he warned them against stirring up violence, suggesting authorities would break up protests that get out of control.

"Don't make a mistake with us. You'll get a firm response," Chavez said during a speech to his supporters at Venezuela's largest military fort.

Thousands of Chavez's backers gathered to listen to Chavez, who hailed the Feb. 4, 1992, military uprising against then-President Carlos Andres Perez as a justified rebellion seeking to topple a corrupt government that ignored the plight of Venezuela's poor.

More than 80 civilians and 17 soldiers were killed before troops loyal to the government quelled the coup attempt, which Chavez commemorates annually.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:24 AM

Chavez blames U.S., Canada for enticing dissent in Venezuela

"The United States and its allies, such as the ultraconservative Canadian government, are attacking Venezuela in an attempt to unleash violence and destabilize the situation in the country"

REUTERS 7/02/2010

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States and Canada of encouraging opposition rallies to destabilize the situation in the Latin American country.

A wave of student protests against Chavez social and economic policies has recently swept through the country. Police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the crowds. At least two students died in clashes with police.

"The United States and its allies, such as the ultraconservative Canadian government, are attacking Venezuela in an attempt to unleash violence and destabilize the situation in the country," Chavez said on national television on Saturday.

Chavez criticized, in particular, the new U.S. ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, for "throwing darts at Venezuela."

Shannon, a former Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, earlier called on the Chavez government to stop repressions against the Venezuelan people, which protested against frequent power outages, the closure of opposition TV channels and rising crime in the country.

According to Venezuelan officials, at least 12,200 people were murdered by criminals in the country in 2009.[Population 28 M]

The U.S. Department of State has rated Venezuela a critical threat country for crime, and many experts have named the capital city of Caracas murder capital of the world.

Murder, kidnappings, armed robberies, car-jackings and residential break-ins occur with impunity and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

Chavez announced on Saturday that special anti-crime measures will be introduced on March 1 in 10 states and 36 municipalities, which registered the highest crime rates in the past.


¡Viva La Revoluctón!

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 08:56 PM

"If your main import is oil" I think you have your imports and exports mixed up Mouse.

If no other countries that are oil rich are going broke "because they're having trouble selling enough oil" then why would the reason be anything other than mismanagement? and if the management is a socialist dictator, why could that not the reason?

Perhaps you can analyze the situation for us better than the WSJ.

First he seizes the assets of foreign oil companies and the he says we need "Investment and experience from foreign oil firms"

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 12:45 AM

Cable TV Station Critical of Chávez Is Shut Down

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS January 25, 2010

The station was taken off the air after defying new government regulations requiring it to televise some of the Venezuelan president’s speeches.


Venezuela: 15-Year-Old Is Killed During a Demonstration

REUTERS January 26, 2010

A 15-year-old student was killed and nine police officers injured on Monday in violence linked to protests over the suspension of a television station opposed to President Hugo Chávez. Cable providers, responding to government orders, stopped carrying the station, RCTV Internacional, on Sunday. The interior minister, Tareck El Aissami, said the student, Josino Jose Carrillo, who he said was a supporter of Mr. Chávez, was killed while participating in a peaceful demonstration in the Andean city of Merida. There were also protests in the capital, Caracas, and elsewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: mousethief
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 12:43 AM

Hey Mouse, is any other country that lives on oil exports going tits up?

Ah well yes then that proves it then, doesn't it? The only reason to go tits up if your main import is oil is socialism. There is no other reason, for instance, that your government could be incompetent or capable of mismanagement. Thanks for explaining that.

O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 12:40 AM

Military Takes Control of Major Venezuelan Cities Amid Protests

CARACAS, Venezuelaâ€"The Venezuelan National Guard moved into Mérida, Venezuela on Tuesday, in response to protests which have erupted across the country. Seemingly unmoved, university students expressed they will continue to march through the streets to protest several new policies enacted by the Venezuelan government.

"The city is militarized since early hours of the morning (from tuesday) and will remain like that as long as its necessary in order to avoid further confrontations in the city of Mérida," said Marcos Díaz, governor of Mérida State on Wednesday.

Waves of protests errupted throughout all of Venezuela on Jan. 23, in response to rationing of water; new increase on the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency; and the recently established weekly rationing of electricity.

Even larger protests were triggered after the government ordered the blocking of six television channels. Among them was “RCTV Internacional", a channel characterized for having an editorial style critical of the government. The government suspended the channels on the grounds of “not complying with Venezuelan laws,â€쳌 for refusing to broadcast nationally chained transmisions of presidential speeches.

Protests escalated in Mérida to violent confrontations with police. Two students have been reported killed and close to 30 students and policemen have been reported wounded.

The governor of Mérida, declared the military action is due to the presence of "snipers and urban warfare in the state," which aim "to subvert order." He noted that the National Guard and the state government are taking measures to control these groups that, according to the governor, allegedly belong to the opposition.

El Trigal Highway was taken by the military in the city of Valencia, capital of Carabobo State. The soldiers said it was a precautionary measure to prevent further unrest among the population.

There is a tense uncertainty among residents in Venezuela. Many fear the conflicts will continue to escalate.
Teetering Power

The events are viewed as what could be the beginning of the end for Chavez. The National Assembly is occupied by an overwhelming majority of government supporters. A victory by the opposition could limit Chavez's ability to implement laws and policies to his liking.

Things have not changed much since Venezuela President Hugo Chavez took office 11 years ago. Many residents believe that the situation has instead worsened. For Chavez the protests are a further inconvenience, as they are taking place in the same year the legislative elections will be held.

Suspicion behind recent events have gone unanswered. In the last several days, two officials have renounced their positions without providing explainations. The vice president of Venezuela who is also the defense ministerâ€"renounced his position. His wife, the environment minister also renounced. Even the president of the Bank of Venezuela has renounced his position, saying he has health problems.

Last week, after the disasterous rationing of electricity, Chavez asked the minister of energy to renounced as well. The rationing of electricity was so poorly implemented that states outside Caracas were often without electricity for up to nine hours. The plan was implemented the day it was announced. Another plan to ration electricity will be implemented next week.
Rising Tension

Before it was blocked, “RCTV Internacionalâ€쳌 continued to broadcast its signal through private cable networks despite having been denied a renewal of its broadcasting consession as a national channel by the Venezuelan government two years ago. This consession was instead granted to a new channel called TVes (Social Venezuelan Television).

The situation led to numerous protests around the country and residents complained that their freedom of speech was being violated. Several months after the protests, “RCTVâ€쳌 changed its name to “RCTV Internacionalâ€쳌 and began broadcasting through cable and satellite networks.

The Venezuelan government said that as soon as television channels are willing to comply with Venezuelan law, their signals will be restored on cable and satellite networks. The claims, however, have not deterred the ongoing protests.

The international community has condemned the actions of the Venezuelan government.

"The Rapporteur exhorts the government to reconsider these measures, and to re-establish the guarantee to freedom of expression and opinion and the proper respect to procedures," said a statement from Frank La Rue, the special rapporteur of the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

His statement adds that the international treaties and internal legislation should be respected as well. La Rue noted that no tribunal ordered the closing of the television channel. He added that, “Any closure of a media must obey a previously established legal procedure, conducted by an independent state authority, and cannot be the product of an administrative decision by the government.â€쳌

Human Rights Watch director José Miguel Vivanco said in a statement that, “In 2009, Hugo Chávez forced radio and TV stations to broadcast live 141 speeches, including one which he prolonged for 7 hours and 34 minutes. Now he also wants to punish those channels that refuse to spread his personal political agenda.â€쳌

During an OAS (Organization of American States) meeting in Washington on Wednesday, the United States, Colombia, Peru, Panama, and Canada also condemned the Venezuelan government for its decision to suspend the six channels.

The Venezuelan government has not taken the criticism well. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the Venezuelan government to "reverse quickly" its decision in order to guarantee the "pluralism of information."

The Venezuelan government responded harshly by rejecting the claims, saying in a statement, “The comments from the spokesman of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs are inacceptable and reprehensible, and they prejudice against the principle of noninterference with the state's internal affairs.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 12:27 AM

Hey Mouse, is any other country that lives on oil exports going tits up?

"Mr. Chávez has expelled or seized the assets of foreign companies capable of properly maintaining the country's fields, including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips."

Then: In anticipation of Thursday's Carabobo oil field auction, outspoken Marxist president Hugo Chavez quietly pleaded for foreign investment.
"Investment and experience from foreign oil firms is necessary in Venezuela. We need it," Chavez said.

The statement is a serious turnaround for a government that has nationalized dozens of foreign oil companies in recent years. But they 'need' foreign investment because mismanagement is turning the country into another failed petro-state.

This is also the second instance of Chavez backtracking today.

Chavez reversed a six-year ban on the sale of U.S. dollars by Venezuela's central bank, in an effort to control the vast amount of money that was leaving the country through unregulated exchange, according to Bloomberg.

He had previously threatened to "burn the hands" of speculators who speculated against the bolivar.
Riots Disrupt Venezuela's Biggest Oil Auction In Years

---

Hugo Chavez targets Venezuela media
The Venezuelan leader says the steps he is taking shift communications 'hegemony' away from private interests to the people, but critics express fear for free speech rights.
July 22, 2009 LA TIMES:

CARACAS, VENEZUELA â€" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made moves to tighten government control over national media, say critics who warn that the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter could be his next target.

Chavez recently announced that the government would review the licenses of and possibly close as many as 240 radio stations -- more than one-third of all AM and FM broadcasters. He has proposed rules that would limit the sharing of programming by stations, something that helps many stay economically viable.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: mousethief
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:29 PM

Short story: Things are going tits up in Venezuela because they're having trouble selling enough oil. Therefore it's because they're socialist. Socialism caused the oil production to plummet? Even the WSJ isn't usually this blinkered.

O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 07:28 PM

The Chávez Meltdown

The Wall Street Journal JANUARY 30, 2010

To the short and brutal list of life's certainties, let us add that socialism invariably leads nations to economic ruin. Latest case in point: Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian" Republic of Venezuela.

Earlier this month, the Venezuelan strongman moved the official U.S. dollar exchange rate to 4.3 bolivars to the greenback from 2.15. At a stroke, he wiped out the savings and purchasing power of the very working-class people he purports to represent, most of whom have barely been getting by. News of the devaluation instantly sent the countryâ€"where consumer prices had already risen by 25% in 2009, according to official figuresâ€"into a panic, with consumers standing in line to stock up on goods before prices rose.

Mr. Chávez next decreed that he would fine and even arrest any merchant caught adjusting prices, eliding the fact that Venezuela imports nearly everything and exports only oil. Now Venezuelans have the Hobson's choice of either complying with the diktat, which means shortages, or disobeying it, which means inflation.

Yet no sooner was one catastrophe of "21st-century socialism" inflicted on Venezuelans than Mr. Chávez unveiled another. On January 12, the government instituted a series of rolling blackouts due to an electricity shortage that had been building for months. Ostensibly, the reason for the shortage was a drought that had left water levels at the country's huge Guri Damâ€"the source of more than 70% of its electricityâ€"at critically low levels. But that is a function of the government's failure to maintain the dam and build additional capacity.

The instant result of the blackouts was chaos, particularly in Caracas, where people were left "stuck in elevators or in dangerous parts of town without street lighting," according to Reuters. The capital city already has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, and Mr. Chávez was forced to suspend blackouts there two days later. The rest of the country, however, remains subject to sporadic power outages.

Behind the crack-up of Mr. Chávez's utopia is the fact that he's running out of money because Venezuela's oil production is plunging. In 1998, the year Mr. Chávez was first elected, the country pumped 3.3 million barrels a day. Today, the figure is 2.4 million barrels, and that's an optimistic estimate.

Venezuela isn't running out of crude. The problem is that Mr. Chávez has expelled or seized the assets of foreign companies capable of properly maintaining the country's fields, including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. It didn't help, either, that in 2002 Mr. Chávez fired thousands of skilled employees of state oil company PdVSA because he didn't like their politics and replaced them with his political cronies.

On Monday, Mr. Chávez made a grudging concession to reality when he agreed to a joint venture with Italian oil major ENI, which itself had been run out of Venezuela in 2006. We'll leave it to the Italians to place their own bets about the limits of Mr. Chávez's caprice. They've already had fair warning that Bolivarians, like other predators, rarely change their spots.

¡Viva La Revoluctón!

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 11:26 PM

Maybe yours.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 02:06 PM

He thinks lies and boasts and threats are lawful tools for him to use

Aren't those pretty normal tools generally used by our leaders?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 01:50 PM

"I would find much stricter control of the banks more reassuring, and a lot more strings attached to how we bail them out."

Good point but you do not want to force banks to make loans with too much risk.

"for his own wicked and evil purposes" He is just an ideologue who thinks he is doing the right thing and has a high opinion of himself and certain amount of paranoia. He thinks lies and boasts and threats are lawful tools for him to use because of his greatness.

ideologue:
1 : an impractical idealist
2 : an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Teribus
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 11:45 AM

Ah but Sawz, Chavez isn't really a "socialist" he's usurping this ideologically perfect system for his own wicked and evil purposes. He is feted and lauded by the "chattering left" at the moment because he's percieved as having stuck it to the "Great Satan" for the past couple of years.

As far as those in know in Venezuela goes they must be ripping their hair out at they way this buffoon is squandering the country's resources. His disasterous dealings with international companies first reduced output by 25% when the oil price was at its height and now that oil is one-third of what it was the industry in Venezuela requires massive investment to bring it back up to snuff - To do this ol' Hugo has to attract all those he forced out a few months ago to come galloping back to the rescue - How do you say "Swivel on it" in Spanish??

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 12:27 AM

I would find much stricter control of the banks more reassuring, and a lot more strings attached to how we bail them out.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 12:07 AM

Well CC, What would you find reassuring? Handouts? Pork Barrel spending? Paying people to fill out voter registration forms for Donald Duck?

This is written by a socialist, Michael Brenyo, in the Socialist Worker Mag.

I hate to say it but I must be honest and say I agree with him:

Stop apologizing for Chávez

I CANNOT help but feel that Lee Sustar's article "What's Really Happening In Venezula?" (November 30) is a malicious lie at worst, and grossly misinformed at best.

As opposed to analyzing what Chávez is doing in Venezuela with a critical eye, Sustar has acted as an apologist for Chávez's actions. Various points made in the article are contradictory not only to socialist politics, but to the working of a basic democratic society.

Take, for example, the way Sustar describes the closure of the RCTV channel. Decried for supporting the coup that deposed Chávez and for espousing the beliefs of the opposition, it has been shut down.

Instead of being up in arms about this, we are told that it is an excusable action. Utilizing this logic, what prevents the United States from shutting down papers such as Socialist Worker? Are we not an "opposition" force as well? Aren't we trying to usher in a radical restructuring of society that would ultimately dismantle what is currently in place?

Sustar refuses to acknowledge that the bad must also be taken with the good. An opposed viewpoint, no matter how despicable, must be tolerated and not stamped into submission. We are supposed to prove our superiority through politics and organization, not by exercising the power to squelch them out.

Another example can be found in the way that Sustar supports Chávez's constitutional "reforms." Regardless of all the wonderful things Chávez is proposing, one cannot help but see his consolidation of power as a sticking point.

Someone needs to ask what the motivations are for these actions. I can recall many times throughout history in which leaders have taken it upon themselves to more accurately represent their people through "reforms." Once all of Chávez's oil wealth runs out, what is really going to remain? The massive public works projects or the constitutional power?

I also find Sustar's swipe at the U.S. Constitution a low blow as well. I don't really see how one of the most important documents in the history of the world can be considered a relic. If Bush proposed the same alterations to the Constitution that Chávez has, I'm sure there would be a multitude of protests attempting to limit his naked increase of power. But in Chávez's case, it is considered acceptable.

Lastly, does Sustar notice the irony in criticizing university students for their participation in protests? Is it not the International Socialist Organization's policy to perform a large amount of recruitment from university campuses all over the United States?

Furthermore, just because these students in Venezuela are middle class, it doesn't mean that they are conservative. Class consciousness can be mixed. Creating a broad generalization that university students are anti-Chávez simply because they are conservative is conflating the actual issue.

I sincerely hope that in the future, Sustar will analyze issues with an objective lens. Someone cannot be confused as to what is going on simply because it is couched in leftward-leaning terms. I hardly see anything superiorly democratic occurring in Venezuela.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 07:50 PM

That last post of mine referred to a post that been removed for some reason.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 06:28 PM

Well, the problem with it, as far as I can see, is that the term "senior preferred shares" only means that the holder will be paid before common stock holders, but after debt holders in the case of a bankruptcy. At the rate banks are going bankrupt these days, I don't find the above particularly reassuring.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 06:18 PM

"If the assets and equity are worthless, the taxpayers won't get their money back."

Evidently CC is more concerned with ifs than facts.

What it they are not worthless? What if a bullfrog had wings? What if you could recognize facts from hype?

It is not a gift as you have falsely characterized it.

Do you have any sort of retirement coming to you? If so, part of the money is likely to be invested in equity, (shares of stock) in these same financial institutions. When the Government buys shares, it is beneficial to you.

On Tuesday, October 14, the Treasury Department announced the creation of a Capital Purchase Program, through which the Treasury will purchase up to $250 billion of senior preferred shares in qualifying U.S. controlled banks, savings associations, and bank and savings and loan holding companies. The program, which is part of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), but is a departure from previously announced plans to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions

The money might have been given to them to use just like when anybody buys stock in anything but it was not given to them to keep.

Is this a gift or not?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 04:30 PM

I don't see those symbols in the second to last post from this one. Only the last post before this one. I think they're something that sometimes appears when someone's computer can't read a character for some reason. It seems to happen a lot with some punctuation marks and also hyphens.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 02:25 PM

What does "â€쳌" and "’s" and "“" scattered throughout in that last post represent?

Does this "American Convention on Human Rights" and "Inter American Court" apply to the United States as well?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 09:15 PM

"the profits of Capitalism" That has a rather hollow sound to it right now. True enough there are still some capitalists making big money out of the collapse, but that's not quite the same thing - Hedge fund made millions betting on Barclays crash.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 09:07 PM

There is no question that the poor of that country are way better off under Chavez. Gasoline is .12 cents a gallon there. It is $1.89 here, and that's down from $4.00 a gallon.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 01:21 AM

If the assets and equity are worthless, the taxpayers won't get their money back. The banks were supposed to use that "bailout" money to make loans to people, but they've decided to just sit on it instead. Since the banks don't seem to care about what the government intended for that money, I don't see any reason to expect that we the taxpayers won't get hosed. I will be pleasantly surprised if we don't, but I'm not too hopeful.

On the other hand, Chavez used money that was already in Venezuela's reserves, which one would expect are there for precisely that purpose. Considering the trouble that most of the countries in the world are in at this point in time, I think it's hardly remarkable that a country like Venezuela might dip into their reserves to help tide them over. Do we even have any reserves here in this country, or does all of our money come initially from China these days?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 12:50 AM

Correction: Tarp is actually the Government "buying in" to the financial instituions. But it is still not money "given" to the banks.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen the financial sector.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 12:12 AM

Do we know if a gift will be paid back?

Those loans make you a part owner of the banks, if you pay taxes.

Funny thing, when the government "bailed out" Chrysler during the great glorious statesman Jimmy Carter's administration, it was called a loan instead of a giveaway.

And the loan was paid back with interest.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 11:43 PM

We won't know if it was actually a loan or not until it's been paid back.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 11:34 PM

"now the poor people enjoy a higher standard of living"

Venezuela's standard of living has not progressed as much as Latin America as a whole. In fact it was higher than average in 1975, pre-Chavez, but as of 2005 it is below the average.

This is based on HDI, Human Development Index which looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being. The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living

http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sheets/hdi-trends/ven_2.gif

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:10 PM

"given to the banks"

Please explain how a loan is considered a gift?

"closed down most alternative Progressive programming "

Care to name some names?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 08:45 PM

Didn't Newt Gingrich lead a charge to shut off funding for NPR?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Stringsinger
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 02:25 PM

"Do you see GWB closing down TV stations that do not support him?"

Yes indeed. But he has had surrogates such as Murdoch and others attempting to do this by discrediting controversy. Main Stream Media in the US has effectively closed down most alternative Progressive programming in the US with exception of Olbermann and Madow.

Bush is just as ideologically corrupt as any dictator.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 08:02 AM

Remember the old days when American oil interests ran that poor country? A small fraction of the populace enjoyed huge wealth while the great majority of the people lived in squalor.
Chavez changed all that, and now the poor people enjoy a higher standard of living and the formerly filthy rich piss and moan about socialism. The French revolution comes to mind.

Chavez has one thing going for him; the great majority of his people, and he is fighting any way he has to to keep his country out of the greasy hands of the filthy rich exploiters. Been there, done that, got the poverty. If I could vote for him, I would.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 02:40 AM

Am I reading that correctly? In the US, hundreds of billions of dollars have been taken from the taxpayers and given to the banks, while in Venezuela, a little less than 13 billion dollars was taken from the banks and given to the taxpayers? Is that how it all shakes down? The US system is better in what way?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 12:16 AM

Chavez Government Raids Official Reserves as Storm Clouds Loom

The government has drawn heavily from Venezuela's official reserves to fill the financing gap on state spending in the wake of declining worldwide oil demand and export earnings.

Latest official figures show that the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) â€" which would once have resisted any such move â€" transferred $12.543 billion to the government. This reduced the official reserves to $29.47 billion â€" a little below the government's estimate of $30 billion for the "optimum" level of reserves required by an economy such as Venezuela's.

Anything above this watershed is deemed to be "excess" or "surplus" reserves which should be put to use rather than left to accumulate interest, according to Chavez. The transfer is legal after a reform of the Central Banking Law four years ago.

Until then, the BCV had independent control over the reserves and a remit to safeguard them in the nation's interest. However, the central bank's autonomy was curbed drastically when the law was changed in 2005.

The official rationale for the drawdown is that the funds will be used for "investment," implying state civil works projects. But there's a suspicion that a substantial part of the money if not all of it will go directly into Chávez' "missions" or social welfare programs.

The transfer comes amid growing concern about the likely ramifications of the drop in oil income on the economy and standards of living this year. The widespread conclusion is that 2009 is inevitably going to be a tough year, although nobody yet seems to have worked out just how hard times could become.

The transfer is seen as a sign that the government, which initially claimed that Venezuela could ride out the knock-on effect on oil markets of the global financial crisis, has realized this can't be so.

Economic growth slowed before the financial storm erupted after Lehman Brothers collapsed last year. At the same time, high inflation prompts warnings that the economy could implode.

Inflation, which has Venezuela at the top of the Latin American league at 30.9% last year, shows no signs of abating. If anything, economists warn that the trend is upwards and likely to remain so unless the government imposes some degree of austerity.

This basically boils down to reining in state spending, the extent of which is unclear in the absence of regular statistics about the national finances. Chávez has urged "workers" to exercise austerity in their own lives because of the crisis, but is deemed not to have followed suit on government expenditure -- although there is speculation that he is waiting until after the referendum on indefinite re-election on 15 February to announce hard times.

Meanwhile, a new study by Miguel Octavio, Head of Research at leading Venezuelan investment bank BBO, concludes that with this latest withdrawal of $12 billion from the Reserves, the money supply in circulation is now 3 times the amount of reserves held by the Central Bank -- a new high. BBO warned that when the money supply reached twice the reserves under President Rafael Caldera in 1994-1995, the country went through one of its largest devaluations ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:50 PM

Chavez is not a facist but an idiot.

The second he thinks he has the USA buy the snardlies because of oil, he is a bad ass, seizing corporate assets and teaming up with other badasses.

Then when he looses his advantage he is just a poor boy needing help from big business.

Venezuela is and was a Banana Republic.

Do you see GWB closing down TV stations that do not support him?

However I hear Libs saying "I hope they bring on the Fairness Doctrine and get you off the air."

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Stringsinger
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 01:10 PM

Chavez is not a fascist because fascism means an alignment between corporate interests and state control of government. He is no more of a dictator than Bush was.

Here's the problem. The CIA and certain shadowy figures in the State Dept. of the US
are trying to do to Chavez what they tried to do to Castro. They pour propaganda money into Venezuela to influence right-wing values into the media. Chavez is reacting to this in the only way he knows how.

It's not the democratic ideal that we have here, (which hypocritically many in the Congress, Senate, Executive Branch (hopefully this will change) and Supreme Court ignore in favor of
an authoritarian right-wing ideology.)

Chavez is caught between a rock and a hard place. To keep Venezuela from becoming another "banana republic" he is forced into a corner as was Castro.

The solution is to present an alternative approach using real democratic ideals instead of political grandstanding by the US media.

This alternative approach means lowering the anxiety that these countries feel about the encroachment of American corporate interests and right-wing ideologies in their political systems.

The American mainstream media is part of the problem. It has biased reporting by Faux News, CNN, NBC and the like controlled by ideologues such as Murdoch.

When the fear of Corporate takeover by American firms is lessened, you will probably see a lessened restriction on media in Venezuela.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Sawzaw
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 12:56 PM

Venezuela seeks investments from Big Oil The Associated Press January 16, 2009

CABIMAS, Venezuela: Squeezed by slumping crude prices, Venezuela is reaching out to the multinational oil companies it once demonized as imperialist profiteers.
   Venezuela is soliciting bids from the world's major oil companies to extract heavy crude from vast deposits in its Orinoco River region. Despite President Hugo Chavez's criticism of U.S.-style capitalism, it has become clear that state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA needs both the cash and expertise of Big Oil.
   These international oil companies have made windfall profits in recent years, but analysts doubt many will want to invest again given Chavez's history of seizing foreign stakes in Venezuela's oil.
   "When it comes to Venezuela, there's still going to be a lot of skepticism," said Greg Priddy, a global oil analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington D.C. "Chavez is still there and you haven't had a change in government."
   Venezuela's oil wealth funded a bonanza of social spending that has made Chavez a populist hero not only in Venezuela, but across much of Latin America.
   But times have changed since Chavez nationalized Venezuela's last privately run oil fields in Orinoco in May 2007, shouting "Down with the U.S. empire!" as Russian-made fighter jets streaked overhead.
   The government took majority control of those projects, siphoning off more of the profits and reducing private companies to minority partners. Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips pulled out altogether, while Chevron Corp. and others begrudgingly accepted the new terms.
   Venezuela's oil industry has stagnated under Chavez. Thousands of veteran employees with critical expertise were fired for backing an oil strike in an attempt to oust Chavez from office, even as the payroll expanded by more than half since 2002 to 70,400. Chavez has turned PDVSA into an all-purpose social service agency. An urban development arm builds houses, and a subsidiary sells milk, chicken and beans at metro stations and plazas.
   Chavez even gave PDVSA the task of training Venezuela's Olympic team.
The neglect of the company's core business is evident along the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo, where for every few pump jacks pulling crude, another one hovers motionless above an abandoned well. Here in the petroleum heartland — home to 78 billion barrels of Venezuela's most accessible reserves — machinery lies broken amid the weeds along muddy lakeside roads. Steam hisses from rusted pipes.
   PDVSA insists output is steady at an average 3.3 million barrels a day. But according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to which Venezuela belongs, production has dropped 16 percent since Chavez won office in 1998 and averaged 2.4 million barrels a day last year.
   Chavez has talked often of partnerships with the state oil companies of Iran and Russia — but falling oil prices have left these countries with less cash to spend on distant projects. "There is no international financing in sight for Venezuela," said Heliodoro Quintero, Venezuela's former OPEC representative, who says the only option left is to seek help from the very companies Chavez spurned.
   PDVSA is in an extremely tight spot, with oil prices plummeting more than 70 percent since July. Venezuela's heavy crude is particularly expensive to upgrade to usable crude — not a problem when prices were sky-high. Now shrinking profit margins make it harder to finance production.
   Venezuela also needs new upgraders to make this extra-heavy crude refineable — which is why PDVSA is requiring bidders to help build three of the facilities. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez each would cost $6 billion, to be completed by 2014.
   PDVSA says it has invited bids for minority stakes in projects to explore seven areas of the Orinoco delta, and that 19 companies, including Chevron Corp., Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA, spent $2 million each for a "data package" of technical information about the deposits.
   But it remains unclear whether any have actually presented bids. Chavez's history of nationalizations and tax hikes is surely fresh on the oil executives' minds.
   "It's very hard to build a billion-dollar project on shifting legal sands," said Russell Dallen, head of Caracas capital markets at BBO Financial Services.
   The companies themselves aren't saying — "We don't comment on bids," Total spokesman Kevin Church in Paris said Thursday, in a typical statement.
   StatoilHydro ASA bought the data package, but it is too early to say whether it will bid, spokeswoman Mari Dotterud in Norway said. "We haven't come that far yet."
   The world's major oil companies may end up bidding on the Venezuelan projects in the end, simply because global supplies are dwindling, and much of the remaining reserves are locked up by governments from Iran to Mexico.

The moral of the story is that Socialism does not work unless it is feeding off of the profits of Capitalism

PS: Chavez is an Idiot

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Nickhere
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 06:50 PM

See? I'm a newspaper too!! ;-))




Free Speech is Alive and Well in Venezuela

By Greg Grandin, AlterNet
Posted on June 22, 2007, Printed on June 22, 2007


The government of Venezuela decided not to renew a
broadcast license for RCTV, one of the oldest and
largest opposition-controlled TV stations in the
country, when its 20-year term expired on May 27. The US
media, in keeping with its reporting on Venezuela for
the last 8 years, has seized upon this opportunity to
portray this as an assault on "freedom of the press."

It's not clear why a TV station that would never get a
broadcast license in the United States or any other
democratic country should receive one in Venezuela. But
this is the one question that doesn't seem to come up in
any of the news reports or editorials here.

RCTV actively participated in the U.S.-backed coup that
briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected
President Hugo Chavez in 2002. The station promoted the
coup government, reported only the pro-coup version of
events. It censored and suppressed the news as the coup
fell apart.

Even ignoring RCTV's role in the coup, its broadcast
license would have been revoked years ago in the U.S.,
Europe, or any country that regulates the public
airwaves. During the oil strike of 2002-2003, the
station repeatedly called on people to join in and help
topple the government. The station has also fabricated
accusations of murder by the government, using graphic
and violent images to promote its hate-filled views.

The whole idea that freedom of expression is under
attack in Venezuela is a joke to anyone who has been
there in the last eight years. Most of the media in
Venezuela is still controlled by people who are
vehemently (sometimes violently) opposed to the
government. This will be true even after RCTV switches
from broadcast to cable and satellite media. All over
the broadcast media you can hear denunciations of the
president and the government of the kind that you would
not hear in the United States on a major national
broadcast network. Imagine Rush Limbaugh during the
Clinton impeachment, times fifty, but with much less
regard for factual accuracy.

Pick up a newspaper -- El Universal and El Nacional are
two of the biggest -- and the vast majority of the
headlines are trying to make the government look bad.
Turn on the radio and most of what you will hear is also
anti-government. Television now has two state-run
channels, but these only counterbalance the rest of the
programming that is opposition-controlled. Venezuela has
a more oppositional media than we have in the United
States.

In fact, if the government carries through on its
promise to turn RCTV's broadcast frequency over to the
public, for a diverse array of programming, then this
move will actually increase freedom of expression in
Venezuela - rather than suppressing it, as the media and
some opportunistic, ill-informed politicians here have
maintained.

Sadly, some human rights officials here have also,
without knowing much of the details, jumped on the media
and political bandwagon. In a press release this week,
José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights
Watch, said that "The move to shut down RCTV is a
serious blow to freedom of expression in Venezuela." (Of
course RCTV will not be "shut down," since it can
continue to distribute its programs through cable and
satellite media). But in an interview the same week
Vivanco gave a different view, criticizing "those who
claim that the fact that the Chavez government is not
renewing the license for RCTV, per se implies a
violation of freedom of expression. That is nonsense. .
. you are not entitled, as a private company, to get
your contract renewed with the government forever." So
why is a station that has repeatedly violated the most
basic rules of any broadcast license entitled to another
20-year state-sanctioned franchise?

It is not surprising that a monopolized media here would
defend the "right" of right-wing media moguls to control
the airwaves in Venezuela. Still it would be nice if we
could get both sides of the story here - like
Venezuelans do from their major media, which is right
now saturated with broadcasts and articles against (as
well as for) the government's decision. Then Americans
could make up their own minds about whether this is
really a "free speech" issue. Is that really too much to
ask from our own "free press?"

Greg Grandin teaches Latin American history at New York
University and is the author of a number of books,
including the just published Empire's Workshop: Latin
America, the United States, and the Rise of the New
Imperialism.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Dickey
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 12:37 AM

Meat, sugar scarce in Venezuela stores

CARACAS, Venezuela - Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.

President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.

Major private supermarkets suspended sales of beef earlier this week after one chain was shut down for 48 hours for pricing meat above government-set levels, but an agreement reached with the government on Wednesday night promises to return meat to empty refrigerator shelves.

Shortages have sporadically appeared with items from milk to coffee since early 2003, when Chavez began regulating prices for 400 basic products as a way to counter inflation and protect the poor.

Yet inflation has soared to an accumulated 78 percent in the last four years in an economy awash in petrodollars, and food prices have increased particularly swiftly, creating a widening discrepancy between official prices and the true cost of getting goods to market in Venezuela.

"Shortages have increased significantly as well as violations of price controls," Central Bank director Domingo Maza Zavala told the Venezuelan broadcaster Union Radio on Thursday. "The difference between real market prices and controlled prices is very high."

Most items can still be found, but only by paying a hefty markup at grocery stores or on the black market. A glance at prices in several Caracas supermarkets this week showed milk, ground coffee, cheese and beans selling between 30 percent to 60 percent above regulated prices.

The state runs a nationwide network of subsidized food stores, but in recent months some items have become increasingly hard to find.

At a giant outdoor market held last weekend by the government to address the problems, a street vendor crushed raw sugar cane to sell juice to weary shoppers waiting in line to buy sugar.

"They say there are no shortages, but I'm not finding anything in the stores," grumbled Ana Diaz, a 70-year-old housewife who after eight hours, had managed to fill a bag with chicken, milk, vegetable oil and sugar bought at official prices. "There's a problem somewhere, and it needs to be fixed."

Gonzalo Asuaje, president of the meat processors association Afrigo, said that costs and demand have surged but in four years the government has barely raised the price of beef, which now stands at $1.82 per pound. Simply getting beef to retailers now costs $2.41 per pound without including any markup, he said.

"They want to sell it at the same price the cattle breeder gets for his cow," he said. "It's impossible."

After a meeting with government officials Wednesday, supermarkets association head Luis Rodriguez told the TV channel Globovision that beef and chicken will be available at regulated prices within two to three days. He did not say whether the government would be subsidizing sales or if negotiations on price controls would continue.

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=292144

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Nickhere
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 06:31 PM

Hmmm. A newspaper.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Dickey
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 09:13 PM

Peruvian author urges action against Chavez

He calls on Venezuelans to mobilize against leader

The Associated Press
Posted June 12 2007

BRASILIA, Brazil � Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa urged Venezuelans to mobilize against their nation's "dangerous trajectory" toward totalitarianism after President Hugo Chavez forced an opposition-aligned television station off the air, according to a Brazilian news agency.

Vargas Llosa, who was in Brazil for a series of conferences, criticized Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, in an interview with Agencia Estado news service.

Click here to find out more!

LocalLinks
"The important thing is for Venezuelans to resist," Vargas Llosa said. "Shutting down RCTV ... will hopefully encourage opposition against a very dangerous trajectory which for Venezuela and the rest of Latin America is very dangerous.

"Venezuela's opposition must become more and more energetic against a demagogue who can destroy Venezuela," he said.

RCTV, Venezuela's oldest and most-watched private channel, went off the air May 27, and its license was turned over to a state-funded channel.

Chavez accuses the station, which was fiercely critical of his government, of playing a key role in backing a short-lived 2002 coup against him. He says he respects freedom of speech.

International journalism watchdogs call the move a blow to freedom of the press, and Chavez opponents in Venezuela have protested the closure...."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-hvargas12jun12,0,1262787.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: akenaton
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 06:22 PM

He's a newspaper that Teribus wiped his arse with!

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Nickhere
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 06:10 PM

Is Dickey a mudcatter or a newspaper?

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Dickey
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:08 PM

Chavez TV channel accused of piracy
By Martin Arostegui | Published Jun/8/2007 | Latin America , Business | Unrated
Miami producer threatens million-dollar law suit

Mr. Chavez has said the new station aims to have a "more human, socially responsible and educational content."
   
Programming so far has combined light entertainment with educational programs, group discussions and news reports highlighting Mr. Chavez's achievements.
   
Mr. Guerra said that TVes obtained "Destino X" "through distributors that we don't deal with, and that we don't know. They pirated the series and are illegally trafficking our product."
   
The new Venezuelan state channel has agreed to take the program off the air temporarily until a settlement can be reached.
   
"I hope it's [off the air] permanently," said Mr. Guerra. "It's creating a negative situation for us."
   
Mr. Guerra said he is also seeking to have "Destino X" taken off the TVes Web site, http://tves.com.ve/parrillaprogramacion.html.
   
According to the show's producers, the distributor has agreed to pay a penalty by today as demanded by Wide Angle Productions, which has threatened to initiate a million-dollar law suit.
   
"But we haven't received the check yet," Mr. Guerra said yesterday.

http://wpherald.com/articles/5101/2/Chavez-TV-channel-accused-of-piracy/Miami-producer-threatens-million-dollar-law-suit.html

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Dickey
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 09:51 PM

Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Venezuelans Deem Chávez a Dictator
June 13, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Venezuela believe their president's recent actions recall those of an authoritarian leader, according to a poll by Hinterlaces. 51 per cent of respondents say Hugo Chávez is behaving like a dictator, while 31 per cent think he is acting like a democrat.

Chávez has been in office since February 1999. In July 2000, he was elected to a six-year term with 59.5 per cent of all cast ballots. In August 2004, Chávez won a referendum on his tenure with 59 per cent of the vote. The special election was called after opposition organizations in Venezuela gathered 2.5 million signatures to force a recall ballot. In December 2006, Chávez earned a new six-year term with 62.89 per cent of the vote.

In January, Venezuela's National Assembly approved the Enabling Law, which grants the president special powers to enact presidential decrees in 11 different areas for a period of 18 months. Chávez said he would use the legislation for "the construction of a new, sustainable economic and social model" in order to "achieve equality in the distribution of wealth."

Last month, Venezuela's Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) was taken off the air after the government decided not to renew its broadcasting license. The RCTV network had been on the air for 54 years, and boasted the country's largest audience. Chávez accused the network of harming his "revolution" and repeatedly said it was aligned with the opposition.

Earlier this month, Chávez discussed the current state of affairs in Venezuelan, saying, "What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what led me to become a rebel. (...) I'm not singing victory yet. It's a long road. There will continue to be all the individual freedoms, collective freedoms, fundamental rights. We accept private education. We accept private health care, as long as it's regulated and in keeping with national policy. (...) The same goes for banks."

Polling Data

Do you think Hugo Chávez is behaving like a dictator or like a democrat?

Like a dictator 51%

Like a democrat 31%

No reply 18%

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16100

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Peace
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 10:08 AM

Yep. The rich are really pissed off with Chavez. However, he keeps getting elected. Doesn't that tell you folks something?

Good to hear from you, Robo. Love the Chomsky remark.

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: Dickey
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 09:11 AM

The film, ''Two Minutes of Hate,'' is to include real footage of Chavez's speeches and his supporters firing guns from a bridge when chaos erupted at a large opposition march that led up to a short-lived 2002 coup.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/05/01/actress_maria_conchita_alonso_to_play_ch

Subject: RE: BS: Chavez moves against second TV channel
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 09:09 PM

What I really think we need to know is what does Noam Chomsky think?